hey guys, a couple of weeks ago I've upgraded my Intel i5 750 desktop to Ivy Bridge. Time to share it with the world. The foundation is still the same: I've kept the Antec P183 v3 case with the Scythe slipstream fans, but most other hardware was replaced. (the original build you can see here)Acoustically there's no noticeable change. The setup is still dead quiet The only 'big' change is a minor case mod to have HDD suspension. After buying 3 generations of green disks, I've moved back to a faster 7200RPM model. On the downside the whole case started humming, although I did use the silicone grommets. But that's all been taken care of

It seems the 4+4pin ATX cable is slightly longer on the 2nd generation Pro82+'s. In the previous build it was just barely long enough, while now it's no problem at all to connect it to the socket.I also choose the lowest wattage model this time, as I've left out the discrete GPU. I assumed this build would require much less electricity (more on that later).

As mentioned the HDD is now a 7200RPM model. In my previous desktop I had a 1TB WD green disk, which too often maxed out while multitasking. While the 2TB Barracuda is very quiet I did notice some low humming. Even though I had originally used the silicone grommets, the whole case was vibrating slightly. To get rid of that I needed to decouple the HDD in some way. Having owned an Antec Solo earlier, the idea to make some sort of elastic suspension did not take too long I just needed to drill 4 holes in the drive cage and ask my mother in law for some clothing elastic string, and find some way to secure it all. Well, I'm not all too handy at that, but some staples did the trick With this little DIY project the case is again as quiet as before. Very occasionally I can hear the HDD make a couple of clicks, but that's the price I'm willing to pay for faster file copies.

Modded Antec P183 drive cage for HDD suspension:

The bluish light comes from a small LED to help focus the camera. It's not a permanent case mod

Having very good experience with a Crucial C300 in my HTPC, the 80GB Intel Postville SSD was replaced by a 128GB Crucial M4. As I only need 25GB on my OS partition, I could have gone for a 64GB model, but the 128GB model should be a bit faster and the price difference wasn't that big anyway.

The Prolimatech Megahalems heatsink was replaced by a Thermalright Venomous X. I've replaced its stock fan with a Scythe SS, like I did in the previous build.I'm not too fond of that fan clamping system as it's a little loose, but it doesn't vibrate or anything so it'll have to do.

Cooling performance is still excellent, even at the fixed low rotational speed of 600RPM.While idle the CPU cores are at 29/18/29/23°C with the iGPU at 30°C. The HDD is 32°C while the PSU fan was spinning at the lowest speed of 450RPM.Power consumption at idle is only 45W, which is 30W less than the previous build. The biggest change will be the discrete GPU that's now left out.While fully stressed with a simultaneous run of Prime95 and FurMark temperatures of the CPU cores go up to 66/64/67/62°C and the iGPU reached 67°C. Both well within safe limits. The HDD temp increased slightly to 34°C, while the PSU fan speed did not change.Power consumption under full load was only 119W! That's almost half of what it was previously. So I was right to pick a lower wattage PSU for this rig. It's still more than enough than it will every need.Ambient temp during the test was 21°C.BTW: I can't really explain why 1 core has a lower temperature than the ambient temp. I guess there's a small offset of that sensor? It can't be cooler than ambient, right?

You might be wondering why a new heatsink, psu etc? I could also just have replaced the mobo, CPU & RAM. Well, my wife will inherit my old HW. It'll be mounted in a brand new SilverStone TJ08-E µATX case. Her old desktop will be reused as an occasional HTPC in the bedroom. I've bought a Silverstone LC10-E HTPC case for that. I'll when I'm finished with them I'll post some details of those as well.

Ambient temp during the test was 21°C.BTW: I can't really explain why 1 core has a lower temperature than the ambient temp. I guess there's a small offset of that sensor? It can't be cooler than ambient, right?

It means your temperature monitoring s/w needs to be calibrated for your setup.

I've used quite a couple of tools to monitor the temps: CoreTemp, HWiNFO64 and Speedfan. I had a couple of others, but they weren't Ivy Bridge compatible (yet).All the latest version of course, and all showed more or less the same temps.

How do you calibrate temp sensors? Without specialized HW I can only rely on what the sensors report.Doesn't matter though, it won't be too far off

You can do all the calibration you want for the IDLE temps, it will always read them the same.

Out of 20 I5 3570K's I mounted there was only 2 that gave almost same idle temps. I tried with one CPU and removed the heat spreader and reapplied the thermal paste after that it almost got the same idle temps. Not something like 28 31 16 32.

Agree on the individual core temp differences. I suggest calibration because his idle temps are lower than room temp Should be 4C or more higher than room @ idle. If the "zero" offset is off, then the load temp measurement will also be off.

There are 4 pics in my opening post, aren't there? I know, it's a couple of detail shots, but for more general shots you can follow the link to the original build. I have some more shots there. They pretty much still apply.

If you want to keep things simple, you can use the 500RPM model.But I have a fan controller, so I chose the 1200RPM model and can easily find the sweet spot. Running at the lowest possible speed is good for my built.If I would need to buy them again, I'd pick the 800RPM model and slightly undervolt.

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